Chapter 54 - Battle(9)

'Boom'

Sounds of the air exploding and the loud impact of bodies colliding echoed throughout the area, a golden light and a vague figure that seemed to exude ominousness kept on crashing into each other.

Phantoms of punches and palms kept appearing in their collisions, soon the golden figure seemed to be affected by a punch and was sent spiraling down to the earth going through numerous building as it did so.

Layton stood still in mid air catching his breath as the few bruises on his body started steaming a by product of rapid healing.

Since the beginning of the battle, Layton's body had become more and more foreign, although he still looked human it was just a subconscious disguise, his bones muscles and other important parts were in the form of tentacles, the tentacles just twisted together to form the basic appearance of a human, Layton guessed his cells were affected by the intent he structured and were subconsciously modifying his body to become the appearance of that horror figure he had glimpsed.

Although most of his body had been changed it wasn't all bad as his antistrike ability and combat power had been continually strengthened, every punch he made now could break the sound barrier and came with a twisting force that was achieved through the rapid twisting of his tentacles under his skin, the same principle applied to his defence and so the monk's palm strikes were getting less and less effective.

Although this fact should have made him elated but the fact was there was something horribly wrong with him, he was getting more and more foreign to the current body, his mind kept on slipping and soon he would be swallowed by this overactive body, he was running out of time and the monk seemed to be aware of this also and kept on staying on the defence, most times not bothering to attack just parrying his punches and kicks.

Relieving his control over the air Layton descended violently keeping his feet downward aiming at the area the monk had just been thrown down, the monk who had gotten up from the hole saw the feet descending from the air aiming at his head, he stood still ignoring the pressure and when Layton's feet was a few meters from him, he moved both his palms hitting the side of the foot redirecting the kick, Layton simply res[ponded using his second foot to reward the monk with a bicycle kick that sent him into a nearby wall.

"You can't handle it anymore can you, give up you can't last more than a minute in the state you are in." the monk said while getting himself out of the rubble of the collapsed wall and stared at Layton who was wheezing.

Layton knew the monk was right, it was not only his soul that was collapsing the body itself had problems, although his cells were taking in energy splitting and optimizing themselves, they still couldn't solve the fundamental question of lifespan, no it should not be said that the problem couldn't be solved it was that Layton did not dare allow his cells to try and solve the problem, once the problem was solved it was a foregone conclusion that his will would be swallowed and he would really turn into an unconscious monster.

Staring at the monk who had a peaceful expression on his face Layton couldn't help but laugh and reply,

"He He, that may be true, but you already lost, you should feel it already, your body is getting slower to respond, you are slipping, making little mistakes…" without waiting for the remaining of Layton's sentence the monk's face had changed, panic and incomprehension dotted his expression, he couldn't help but make a howl of rage.

The monk's golden glow was tainted black sudden spots of black that exuded ominousness emerged from various areas around his body destroying, polluting and modifying his Dharma image.

Most martial artist who followed the way of Dharma image paid close attention to their image, any attack or wound on the Image was usually a fatal one that involved the core of their soul, countless bizarre voices and thoughts filled the monk's mind driving him crazy, he could feel the source of these thoughts were himself and that was made him more puzzled and frightened, he sat down ignoring the existence of Layton opposite him and tried chanting the few Buddhist mantras for keeping away demons and driving illusions he remembered but they were all to no avail, No it wasn't that they had no effect they just made his mind clearer and able to receive more of the polluting whispers and voices.

Layton ignored the monk opposite him and focused on adjusting his body, he needed a few more minutes he couldn't die just yet, Listening to the monk's painful chanting some of the negative emotions that were eroding his soul were relieved, he knew the monk could not be saved and the battle here was basically over, during the battle Layton had been stealthily infusing the monk with his intent, although the monk's unbreakable intent was not broken and was persistent in keeping all negative attacks out it did no good in Layton's case, the attack was sent through subtle vibrational frequencies that awakened the wisdom in the opponents cell little by little, with the awakened wisdom the cells knew how to hide themselves because of the threat of the monk, if they were found prematurely then the monk using his profound cultivation could spend some time to expel and suppress their intellect, as the battle progressed the amount of cells infected and awakened grew tremendously and by the time Layton had hinted to the monk that there was a problem with his body, it was already too late.